A family life

Last Updated:October 27. 2009 5:20PM
Published: October 28. 2009 3:30AM

Dorothy Nale, of Florence’s Merrill Gardens, is “all about” family, home and country. She was born and reared in Florence and was the first girl and the third oldest of eight children.

“I had a wonderful mother,” Nale said, “and I learned about care-taking from her as I helped her oversee the other children.

“I learned about canning and embroidering in the summers when I stayed with my Aunt Nee in Iron City. She needed a little pair of hands to wash inside her canning jars. And I liked to ride in the rumble seat of her Model T Ford. But then in the evenings, we would sit out on the porch swing, and I would get so homesick.”

Nale married Leon O. Nale, chief gunners mate in the U.S. Navy, in 1942 and became a military wife.

She accompanied him to a variety of places.

“We had two boys, Leon Jr. and Mike, and during my husband’s career in the Navy, our boys attended 14 different schools,” she said.

Nale can remember the blackouts during World War II.

“When it was suspected that the enemy was spying on us, they would sound an air-raid siren,” she said. “We had to pull our shades and turn out all the lights. Many times we would do that and then go out on the front porch to watch the skies.”

Nale said she liked being a military wife. “I met many interesting people, but I also made some special friends that made it somewhat hard to leave.”

In 1960, the family moved back to Alabama where Leon worked as a recruiter. He later took a job at Ford Motor Co., where he worked until his death in 1980.

Becoming widowed at age 56 made Nale determined to be strong and independent. She helped her daughter, Jan, care for her two children, Luke and Molly, while Jan worked as a nurse at Eliza Coffee Memorial Hospital.

She also kept her son Mike’s two children, Kane and Emily.

Nale said she enjoys living in Merrill Gardens.

“I love all of the nice people here,” she said. “We have good management, good food and good activities.”

“Mother especially likes the contests they have here,” Jan said. “That’s why she’s wearing that sling on her arm. With each walk around the building, they scored one point and whoever had the most won.

“Mother said she would win the race, and she was off to a good start. But about half way around the building she sailed over the top of her walker, landing on her arm.”

Nale sees her family often, and they go to the lake or out to eat on Saturdays. She even went to Disney World two years ago and to Houston to visit her brother.